Breaks Through 50 Minutes! Chinese Humanoid Robot Shatters World Running Record

A special half-marathon event for humanoid robots in Beijing, China, has marked a new milestone after the winner completed the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds. This surpasses the human world record of 57 minutes, set by runner Jacob Kiplimo. This year’s robot achievement is considered significant. Considering that at last year’s running event, the fastest robot could only finish in two hours and 40 minutes. The winning robot in this year’s half-marathon was developed by Chinese smartphone company Honor. Another Honor robot actually recorded a faster time of 48 minutes and 19 seconds, but was disqualified from first place because it was remotely controlled. Meanwhile, the robot with the 50 minutes and 26 seconds time operated fully autonomously and won based on a weighted scoring system, as reported by TechCrunch on Wednesday (22/4/2026). This year, the special robot half-marathon was joined by 100 teams from China. Around 40 percent of the robots raced autonomously, while the other 60 percent still relied on remote control, according to the E-Town Beijing technology centre. Not all robots performed smoothly; some experienced technical issues, including one that fell at the starting line and another that crashed into the track barriers.